Centurion meetings, and he was not sure Lind had been fully accepted. At a meeting held on the 11th June 1929, George Lind, a Russian by birth, was welcomed into the fold and presented with his badge, number 24; 21 years after his qualifying performance in 1908. After his acceptance, George Lind took a very active role and often acted as chairman at Centurion meetings. At that same meeting it was announced that the Race Walking Association (R.W.A.) had lowered the upper age limit to 60 years for the 1929 race, but they made a special exception for A.A. Stiff. 1929 was a milestone year for many reasons. The Surrey Walking Club had made a
decision to promote the Brighton & Back race on a 4 year cycle, the race to be held in the year following the Olympic Games. Although the 1926 race did not conform to this pattern, for reasons unknown, the 1913 & 1921 races did, and so it seemed to be a natural move. There had previously been a proposal for a 100 mile race to be held in the Epsom area of Surrey, to be held in 1928, but it was voted against on an amendment in favour of the S.W.C. race due for 1929. In June, the Brighton & Back race was held. The winner for the second time was Billy Baker in a time of 18 hours 38 minutes 8 seconds.
There were 14 newly qualified
discovered that A.A. Stiff, in what must have been his final attempt, retired at 10 miles (Big Ben) after 2 hours 1 minute 37 seconds.
Centurions, plus 3 who were existing Centurions. Of the 3 existing Centurions, Jimmy Thomas C65, at the age of 56, became the first man to complete the Brighton & Back 3 times, the only other Centurion with 3 completions was Henry Swabey C13 (1907 B & B, 1908 & 1909 track). The other existing Centurion was B.W. Smith who retired at the 100 mile mark. The only one of the newly qualified Centurions to stop at the 100 mile mark was A.E.H. Winter. (Why do more than is necessary?) This was the first time that an accurate record of retirements at measured distances was kept.
Stiff, who we know had twice done the distance,
never did qualify. In November 1929, Oscar Makeham on behalf of the Centurions, attended the funeral of “Teddy” Knott. Although Teddy Knott was never a Centurion, he was in many ways the inspiration for the long distance walkers and Centurions that would follow in later years. In December, a new handbook was produced covering numbers 1 – 89, this was the 3rd edition.
So far, with the exception of the White City track races in 1989 & 1909, all Centurion performances had been achieved on the Brighton road, and as the pattern had now been set, the next race would not be until 1933. Only a few things worthy of note occurred between the 1929 & 1933 races. The first being that J.C. Johnson C78, of the Surrey Walking Club, requested the help of fellow Centurions to act as marshalls and judges for a new 38 mile event from Hastings to Brighton, to be held in 1930. (This ‘classic’ event would last for 50 editions, finally ending in 1987). In October 1930, E.H. Neville C7, suggested that the Centurions should promote a Brighton & Back in 1931. This was turned down, as the Centurions were a Society, not a Club, and were therefore unable to promote an event in their own right. At that same meeting rule 3, which limited membership of the Centurions to 100, was rescinded and amended to read that ‘Centurions would be awarded sequential numbers in chronological order of their performance without limitation’. In April 1931, a proposal was made that a circular letter should be sent to all Centurions at Christmastide. In October 1931, a letter was received from the Yorkshire Walking Club suggesting a 100 mile event in Yorkshire. In December 1932, a special dinner was held to mark the coming of age of the Centurions (21 years). The 1933 London to Brighton & Back race was held on 23rd-24th June. The main question being, would Billy Baker achieve the hat trick? The question was easily answered as Billy was unable to race. In fact he never again raced over the classic distance, but was often present to support and encourage other walkers. Of the 17 starters, 10 were to finish, the
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From this record it has been
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